The President says the N-Word to make a point. Walmart will discontinue items bearing the Confederate flag. And DNA traces invigorate the manhunt for two escaped convicts in upstate New York.
It’s Tuesday, and here are five things to know for your new day:
CONFEDERATE FLAG
Red flag: The chorus of conservatives calling to run the Confederate flag down the pole for good is growing in the wake of the Charleston massacre. Following Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, South Carolina’s own Gov. Nikki Haley asked lawmakers yesterday to turn it into a museum piece. And in Mississippi, Republican leader Philip Gunn called the Stars and Bars — which peers out of the upper left corner of his state flag — “a point of offense that needs to be removed.” Even Walmart announced it’s tossing items bearing images of the flag from its shelves.
OBAMA N-WORD
Say what?: Yes, the country’s first African-American President, Barack Obama, said the N-word. Describing the need for America to keep fighting racism, he told comedian Marc Maron: “It’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say nigger in public.” The choice of words jarred some, especially since Obama had been gingerly picking his way through the racially charged minefields of the killing of black men in Ferguson, Baltimore and beyond.
PRISON BREAK
Proof positive: They were here. DNA evidence says so. Convicted killers and prison breakers Richard Matt and David Sweat left behind the genetic traces in a cabin in upstate New York. It reinvigorated the hunt for the fugitives. The two staged a Great Escape style break on June 6, and police have seen neither hide nor hair of them since. But over the weekend, a witness spotted a man running for the woods near that cabin. Today, search teams will redeploy to the area.
CAMPAIGN 2016
Third time’s the charm?: America’s V.P. hasn’t ruled out making a play for the top job in the upcoming Presidential election. From the start of his career, Joe Biden has persevered through some horribly sad personal losses. His first wife and daughter died in a crash over 40 years ago just after he won his first Senate bid, and early this month, Biden buried a son, who died at age 46 of brain cancer. As he heads back to official duty, a source has said Biden has set himself a deadline of early August to decide whether to run for the Oval. It would be his third shot at it — but Biden has been known to persevere.
BOTTLED WATER RECALL
E. Coli caution: A major bottled water producer is recalling some of its products after an E. Coli scare. But Canada-based Niagara Bottling LLC it is doing so purely out of an abundance of caution. There have been no signs of its product being contaminated or reports consumers getting sick, it said. After the operator of a spring supplying two of Niagara’s plants in Pennsylvania failed to report evidence of E. Coli at the source, the bottler halted production, disinfected bottling lines and issued a voluntary recall.